As School Opens, Solar House Team Soon to Close Door on Prestigious Project

There’s no making light of what University of Cincinnati students have accomplished over the past six months in completing construction of an innovative solar house.

The students have developed roofing advances, unusual uses for evacuated tubes, a unique thermo-electric heat pump, a water-collection system and even implemented radiant heating in a house where ALL the energy needs – such as appliances, AC/heating mechanics and even a commuter vehicle – are ultimately provided by the sun.

The UC Solar House effort is all part of a select international competition called the Solar Decathlon where only 20 universities from around the world are permitted to participate.

At 10:15 a.m., Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, during a "Solar Send-Off Ceremony" in front of Braunstein Hall, the UC house – divided into four sections – will begin its journey to Washington, D.C. There, from Oct. 12-19, it will be on display on the National Mall, where it will be toured by members of the public as well as builders, architects, environmentalists, educators and government officials. All 20 houses will also be tested on 10 criteria related to energy creation and conservation by means of the innovative architecture and engineering designs by the students.

“This has been my greatest work experience so far,” said construction team leader Luke Field, 23, of Indianapolis, who has worked on the project without a break for the past six months. He added, “It’s been humbling to learn how much I don’t know about what goes into a building, particularly mechanics related to routing electric, plumbing and ducts. Good design has to take into account all aspects of these functions.”

For instance, one compromise the crew is making in these final weeks of construction is moving some pipe and duct work into space within the kitchen’s cabinets. “It decreases the amount of storage in the cabinets, which normally wouldn’t be something an architect or contractor would want to do. But we had ducts and pipes fighting for space on the underside of the house, and we had to make a compromise,” explained Field.

Both Field and fellow construction team leader Eric Stear, 23, of Wichita, Kansas, said that the project has changed the direction of their lives since it’s the first project they helped to both design and build. Both claim they’ll never be able to work solely in the office/studio setting common to the architecture profession. Instead, they claim they’ll need to both design and build.

Stear said, “This is the first time I got to build something I designed in school. It started out on paper and ended up as wood, nails and reality. It’s great to have something solid to show for all our design work. It’s taught me a lot. I’ve learned it’s very easy to design on the computer where you can be infinitely precise, but reality is much more of a patchwork process because, frankly, there’s no such thing as a truly straight piece of wood.”

The UC project – which involves three of the university’s nationally and internationally ranked colleges (College of Business; College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning; and College of Engineering) – is part of what’s called the Solar Decathlon sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. In all, 20 universities around the globe were selected to participate in the Decathlon to innovate, design and build the best solar house possible.

For most students involved, this opportunity represents their first construction project they’ve seen through to completion. Not so for engineering senior Jeremy Smith, 22, of Archbold, Ohio, who has helped with the installation of the house’s plumbing and electrical wiring, helped configure the use of evacuated tubes as a green energy source and also assisted with fabrication of the steel frame.

Smith has for years helped to build shelter houses, floating docks and even furniture for a Boy Scout camp in Defiance, Ohio. He said, “This is by far the most comprehensive construction project I’ve ever worked on. But that past experience has certainly helped with the solar house. I’ve worked with a lot of different tradesmen from carpenters to pipe fitters and picked up a lot of information. That’s helped me to efficiently think through problems here and to think ahead to forestall others.”

Architect Anton Harfmann, associate dean in UC’s internationally ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, explained, “Up till now, the great majority of construction has treated energy issues as an after-thought, an add on. What we’re doing here is using available technology in new ways to integrate energy solutions into a home that is 100-percent solar powered and still meets people’s needs.”

In all, about 200 UC students mobilized to build the house. The design process took several months, and construction actually began in April 2007. 

• Check out the agenda for the Sept. 28 “Solar House Send-Off”
• Read more about the house and its technical details.
• Read more about the house’s sponsors.
• Read more about the Solar Decathlon event in Washington, D.C.
• Read more about UC’s programs in architecture, engineering and business.
• Apply to UC programs.

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